by Kris Weeks
“Get inside!” Atora told him.
Tyler walked backwards while barely holding his bloody knife. He pushed the door open with his butt and backed in. He let the door fall closed in front of him still watching outside.
“A little scared boy?” Eric asked. Tyler jumped at his voice and looked at him and back outside.
What the hell is going on?!” Alex ran in from the yard on the side of the building with Willy following close behind. Andrew met up with them as Atora was coming back into the store.
“Eric sent Tyler out to load the van on his own and some of the undead came up. He did a good job, I just helped out a little.” Atora explained.
“You sent my damn kid outside by himself?” Alex hollered at Eric. “He has to learn some time.” Eric stated calmly.
“I’m fine dad, was just surprised by them that’s all.” Tyler assured. Alex patted his son on the back. “You sure bud?” He asked him.
Tyler nodded as his dad took his knife and cleaned it off for him across his jeans and handed it back to him. “You don’t go out alone.”
“Yes sir.” Tyler replied looking at Eric.
“He is fine Alex, no need to
worry.” Eric told him.
Alex glared at the man who had sent his child to be eaten. Alex and Willy walked back out to the yard to keep loading the bigger materials needed while Atora, Andrew, Eric and Tyler continued their collecting of items.
“Everyone go ahead and let’s get loaded up and move on to the next place we can find, maybe a food store if we can find one.” Eric shouted over the shelves.
The rest of the group made it to the front of the stores with loads of things to take back that were all of necessity; including a small gas powered generator with some other things that they would be able to use for cooking and sleeping situations.
They loaded everything in the van and closed the doors noticing a horde headed to the covered yard where Willy and Alex were, from across the street. Eric had seen a few as they had come out of the store, but not the intense mass that was approaching.
Some split off and headed their way once they noticed another meal that could be had and others stayed on their course heading to the side of the store. Atora opened her door and closed it quickly. She ran up to the first one she came to and slit its throat and stabbed it in the head, Andrew showed up next to her and began stabbing at the few that had come their way.
“Go ahead and help.” Eric told Tyler reaching over and opening his door for him.
Tyler barely had a chance to step out and close the door before a woman just his height stumbled up toward him with her arms extended. Tyler watched her drawn in face open her mouth and growl while walking at him. He was not happy to have to kill this woman, she was small in stature like his mother was and wore a small dirtied dress as his mother used to, but knew that he had to. He raised his knife and stabbed her once she was within his reach. He slammed the knife into the top of her head and his hand caved her head in with the knife. Tyler’s hand was holding the small woman up by the inside of her skull. He pulled his hand out covered in yellow colored brain matter mixed with blood and the woman dropped to the ground. Tyler gagged and bent over feeling his vomit rise in the back of his throat. He spit out the saliva that had built up and tried to keep himself from throwing up in front of everyone. Tyler stood up with sweat beading on his forehead, his face pale from the sick feeling he was having.
“Suck it up boy!” Eric opened the side van door and closed it.
Atora and Andrew were making their way through the few wanderers that had made it to them to try and help Alex and Willy with the mass that went towards them. Atora could see them making it through the fenced off area, by going through the gate that had been left slightly ajar even with the chain wrapped around it.
Tyler decided to take Eric’ s advice. He breathed in deep and ran to a zombie that was trying to sneak up from the back of Andrew. He grabbed the man from behind around the neck and dug his knife into the man’s temple and fell with him to the ground. Tyler rolled the man off of him and caught his feet quickly ready to kill to see another one coming at him. The tall scrawny man grabbed Tyler by the arm and bit him on the wrist, he pulled Tyler’s arm away and then back again to take another bite when Andrew struck the man with his knife in the sunken in eye socket. The man lost his grip of Tyler, Andrew pushed him away to the ground and began plunging his knife in and out of the tall skinny man’s forehead.
Tyler screamed in pain while the muscles and veins dangled over his hand. He lifted his hand up and his tendons smacked him in the face as Eric walked with a calm stride over to him. He grabbed him by the wrist and pulled it to him looking at the bite.
“You are doomed boy.” Eric told him.
Eric lifted his machete up and took two more men out along with a woman with one swing forward and another swing back. Atora and
Andrew ran to the side of the
building. The undead had already surrounded the truck bed along with Alex and Willy standing on top of it. Andrew knew he had brought a rifle for a reason. He shouldered the rifle, looked through the scope and froze.
The military came back to him. He saw a family strapped with bombs. The sand blew in front of his focused lense; almost distracting him from his target of the three people he had seen. He looked at the man, woman and child. The child had the larger of the bombs strapped to him and he shot the child in the head through the dusty air. The man had by then brought up his rifle and focused in on Andrew. Andrew had wiped the hot sand from his eyes and refocused on the dark colored Iraqi woman. The memory of them were as clear as the day that it happened. Andrew shook his head knowing that this was just a memory flooding back from that day and tried to look at the horde that was in front of him.
Again, the memory flooded his brain, the cloth covered face of the woman came back into view. He had not wanted to shoot the woman or the man, but they were gunning for him as he should have already taken them out. Andrew shook his head again, remembering he was not in Iraq. He took aim and shot the first one he saw in the head. He took aim on another, shot and then another and shot again. He took seven out with his shots, never missing once.
Alex and Willy were taking them out with knives one by one and had just taken out the last one near the truck. Alex jumped down while Willy sat on the side of the truck catching his breath.
“You okay?” Atora asked Willy.
Willy nodded and bent over to put his head down between his knees. Never had he thought one day he would be fighting people that wanted him for lunch. He had killed so many of them. This is what he was against. All he had wanted and believed in was null and void now. World peace would never be. Willy was for the peace of men, women, colors, religions, and truly believed that one day it would happen. Now he was killing the very men and women that could have made that happen.
“How in the hell did the world come to this bullshit?” Willy
muttered.
Atora patted his back. “We have to keep going Will.”
Willy sat up and looked at her. “I don’t like killing people, but hell, what else are we supposed to do?”
Atora nodded as she listened to Willy.
“Andrew, you alright?” Alex hollered as he ran by him to check on his son.
Andrew shook his head yes, before realizing what Alex would find when he got to his son as he had heard him scream. He was hoping that Eric had been good enough to save the boy, but knew that Eric felt betrayed by Alex, and was going to put no extra effort in saving anything of his; including his son.
“WAIT!” Andrew shouted. “ALEX WAIT!”
Alex kept running. “TYLER!” He yelled. I have to get to Tyler!” Alex muttered under his breath.
Alex rounded the corner to Eric standing over his son and Tyler sitting on the ground with his head leaned up against the side of the van.
“Son!” Alex bent down grabbing him under his arms and picked him up to stand.
Tyl
er fell limp in his dad’s arms. Alex laid him back down to the ground and began looking him over. His one hand covered his wrist and blood dripped from his elbow on the hand that had been bit running behind him making a small stream on the ground.
“What the hell?” He moved his son’s hand to reveal the dangling parts of his arm.
Alex peered at Eric and back at his son as tears began to fall. “You got bit?” He questioned.
Tyler slightly nodded his head and dropped his chin to his chest.
“You let my fucking kid get bit you bastard!” Alex started towards Eric.
Eric pulled his machete up and held it between him and Alex. “No, I took the ones out that were trying to get to him.” Eric lied.
The rest of the group came upon the scene as Tyler was trying to lift his head to talk to his dad.
“It…was…my fault.” Tyler
whispered.
Tyler had lost so much blood, he was starting to become lethargic and going in and out of consciousness. Alex bent down and took his son in his arms and fell to sit on the ground to pull him into his chest.
“Tyler, I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.” Alex cried.
Eric walked toward the father and his dying son and patted Alex on the back. Alex violently shrugged his pat away and pushed his hand away from touching him.
Alex rocked back and forth with his son in his arms. He put his hand on his son’s chest and could feel a faint beat. “Oh God please no!” He begged.
Alex pushed on Tyler’s chest trying to keep a feel for the rhythm. He was able to barely feel it and then nothing. Alex had just felt the last heartbeat of the only child he had left.
CHAPTER SEVEN
ALEX PICKED up his son and
moved him to the cement slab in front of the store. He sobbed breathtaking sobs as he laid his son’s body down. He slid his hand up and gently put his head down.
“I will see you soon son.” Alex whispered and turned away.
He rubbed his eyes and wiped his face; though tears still streamed, he rounded the corner of the store back towards the truck. He pulled open the door and pulled himself to the passenger seat. The group watched him as he sat staring straight forward in a trance.
“Okay, we are heading down to find another store that has some food. We have to get food for those of us remaining.” Eric belted out.
“Do you really have no feelings?” Atora wiped the tears from her face, as did Willy and Andrew.
“We have to go on , we have to survive. Let’s move.” Eric jumped into the driver’s seat of the van.
Willy wrapped his arm around Atora and squeezed. “We have to get more for us to survive, he is right. But, so are you, apparently he has no feelings for anyone but himself.”
Andrew walked away from the two shaking his head at the situation and put his gun in the back and climbed into the passenger side of the van.
Before Atora even slid the door closed, Eric was pulling off. Willy fell in behind the van and kept the
massive truck in second to slowly make his way around the abandoned cars and wandering men and women in the middle of the road. Almost two hours into their trip, Eric pulled the van over to the side of the road and jumped out quickly grabbing a gas can from the back and filled up the van then held the can up to Willy.
Willy nodded, Eric set the can on the ground and jogged back to the driver’s side of the van and hopped in and began to pull away. Willy peered over at Alex in disbelief that he would just leave it there and pull off. Willy opened his door and flung his leg out to find the running board on the side of the truck.
“I got it.” Alex mumbled.
“Are you sure? I can get it, just can’t believe he is such a prick.” Willy admitted.
“I can.” Alex stated before closing the door.
Alex made his way to the can and back to the tank and poured the rest in. Alex scanned the cars behind them as he waited for the last drop and saw a red can sitting next to a car. He walked back to it and it was a five gallon gas can. He opened the top and brought it to his nose and inhaled. He held it up for Willy to view in the side view mirror. Willy put a thumbs up out of his window while Alex walked back to the truck after strapping the can to one of the small steps on the flat bed part of the truck.
“Can always use gas.” Alex stated climbing back aboard.
Willy popped the truck in first and headed on down the road. After a few minutes, the van came into view over a couple of hills in the road.
“Thanks for waiting son of a bitch.” Willy said out loud.
The two men watched the van turn into a parking lot and finally caught up to them at a small grocery store. Eric was already inside the store with Atora and Andrew standing at the front waiting for Willy and Alex before going in. Alex sat in the truck and just shook his head to Willy, letting him know that he was going to sit this one out. Alex put his hand up to Willy, to tell him he needed a bit to gather himself as the tears started to flow again. Alex put his head into his hands and he ran them over his face. Willy nodded and closed the door.
Atora and Andrew didn’t need to ask about Alex, they understood him not wanting to get out.
They all stood outside the door for a moment and scanned the area for any of the dead approaching before entering the store. They opened the door and let the glass door fall closed to see Eric standing in front of them.
“Y’all want to get your asses in gear, or are we going to take all night?” He stated to them. “Where in the hell is Alex?”
Atora and Andrew sidestepped across the front of the store half expecting someone to jump out at them ready to take them out.
“He needed a quick break.” Willy told him.
“No, we are a team, we all work.” Eric headed for the door and began to wave for Alex to come inside.
Willy grabbed Eric by the arm and spun him around. “Leave the man be. He just lost the only family he had left.”
Eric glared at Willy and down at his hand that was still on his arm. “Unhand me now!”
Willy removed his hand as to not create any unnecessary arguments, but there was no need for Alex to be involved right now. Willy knew that if something happened, Alex’s head would not be in it and he would end up dead himself.
Willy placed himself between the door and Eric and stared at him until finally Eric turned and walked away. He began throwing canned vegetables onto the floor while he glared at Willy. Willy turned his back to Eric and began gathering things in a calm manner and moving them to the front counter. Andrew and Atora were doing the same.
“Hey guys, I am going to pee. Just a heads up.” Atora belted from across the store.
“Uhhh…thanks.” Andrew laughed.
Atora walked to the very back of the store under the huge restroom sign and made her way to the first door. She pushed the door open slightly when a bang sounded on the door next to it. She jumped back and stared at the door and in seconds Andrew and Willy were by her side. Atora pointed to the other door.
“That almost made me go in my pants.” Atora whispered.
“We got it, go on.” Willy pushed her into the bathroom.
The two men stood on each side of the door ready to take out whatever they found when they plowed in. Willy mouthed to Andrew.
“Ready, set, go!”
Andrew pushed open the door and plowed in first, Willy followed close on his heels and fell to his knees tripping over Andrew’s military boots. A small woman exited from the stall that Andrew had already passed and fell on top of Willy. Mouth open, hands frisking his body for a tasty treat trying to grasp onto him as Willy wiggled out from under her small frame.
The smell of the woman was as though she had lived in a filthy toilet for some time now and she tried to bury her face into Willy’s neck. Her hair layered over his face as Willy stabbed at the nasty smelling woman. Suddenly, the woman’s weight lifted off of him and she dangled from Andrew’s hand. Her dirty, once pink shoe fell from her mangled toes as her body spun to
face Andrew and she grabbed a hold of his thick grown in beard that he had acquired over the last few days and pulled it to her.
“Bitch!” He squealed with pain plunging his knife into the side of her head behind her ear. He dropped her to the ground and offered Willy his hand to help him up.
“Thanks bro.” Willy stood.
Both of them laughed as Andrew rubbed at his scruffy face. “I don’t think I have heard you cuss man. That was funny.” Willy joked.
“That shit hurt.” Andrew felt for a hairless hole in his face.
“I thought all military guys
cussed?” Willy questioned.
“Normally, we do. But, I tried getting out of that once I got back from Iraq. I didn’t spend as much time over there as my other brothers. I got shot pretty early in the game and sent home with massive injuries and PTSD.” Andrew explained.
